The Finksburg Corridor Plan is intended to promote new small-scale business, office and retail activity in the corridor while providing opportunities for residential uses on secondary roadways of Route 140. It has been in the works for more than 10 years and began as a comprehensive update to the 1981 Finksburg Area and Environs Comprehensive Plan.

The corridor is roughly defined as the area along Route 140 from the Baltimore County line to the east to Kays Mill Road in the west.

Commissioners rejected a previous version of the plan in 2011 by a vote of 4-1.

Commissioner Haven Shoemaker—whose district includes the corridor— was the lone commissioner to vote for the plan. In September 2012, the board sent the plan, along with comments, back to the planning commission for revisions.

Almost a year later, the plan no longer contains a boulevard zoning district, a proposed zoning that was intended to stimulate commercial development. Design guidelines that cover new construction and renovations can now be bypassed if a property owner shows they can't afford the suggested design modifications.

The plan also includes a controversial rezoning of a property at the corner of Routes 140 and 91 from conservation to commercial. Residents have said that they have not been made aware of the property owner's plans for the 15-acre property.

Ridgely, who co-founded the Finksburg Planning and Citizens' Council (FPACC) as an advocacy group for the area, said eliminating the boulevard district and design guidelines regulation leaves nothing in the plan that suggests improvement along the corridor.

"Instead of being a gateway to Carroll, it's the ghetto for Carroll County and it's going to get worse," he said.

Ridgely, a vocal critic of the current board of commissioners and a former county employee, said his frustation with the plan is not because he has an ax to grind.

"I'm a disgruntled citizen, there's no doubt about that," he said.

While Ridgely believes the current plan will not have a positive impact on the corridor, county commissioner Robin Frazier said Thursday that there are many aspects of the plan, particularly the design guidelines, that seem like government overreach.

"I don't think government should be involved in the design or aesthetics at all," she said.

Shoemaker, who acknowledged that the current version of the plan is "watered down," said he hasn't heard much opposition to the proposal.

A plan more than 10 years in the making that would guide the growth and development of Route 140 in Finksburg will again head to the Board of Carroll County Commissioners for adoption after the board denied the original plan in 2011.

The mood among the small group residents who attended an informational meeting on Finksburg's long-stalled Corridor Plan, held at Sandymount United Methodist Church on Jan. 14, was one of weariness and polite skepticism.

Nearly a year after being acquired by rival Men's Wearhouse in a contentious takeover struggle, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers will lay off 122 employees at the company's corporate headquarters in Hampstead, a company spokesman said Monday.